Super Spicy Chickpea&Vegetable Stew

Vegetable stew is a real comfort food, and it will certainly help warm you up during these fierce Irish blustery days.

I am a huge chili fan, so I’ve made this dish particularly spicy, you can adapt my recipe and make it as spicy or as mild as you like. Bear in mind though, chili is an amazing flu busting ingredient, and it’s better than any Vitamin C supplement you’ll ever take.

Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 35 minutes Serves: 4

This stew takes very little time to prepare and it’s great for when you want to use up leftover vegetables. You could add some courgette or mushrooms if you like.

This dish is perfect for feeding a big crowd, you can double or triple the ingredients and serve with some toasted pitta pockets.

I like to batch cook this stew as it’s great for freezing, it also tastes even more delicious on day two after a night of overnight flavor fusion.

Just a note for all my Paleo friends, if you’re doing strict Paleo you will have to omit the chickpeas, but hey…you can still enjoy a spicy vegetable stew. I allow myself chickpeas now and then as I am an 80:20 Paleo gal.

Ingredients:

1 tin of chickpeas

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 cup of pasata/2 tbsp of tomato purée

1-2 bell peppers (I used red and green)

1/2 an onion

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 a scotch bonnet (optional)

1-2 red chillies

1 tbsp of scriracha sauce (optional but adds a nice sweetness)

Pinch of salt&black pepper

1 tbsp of ground coriander

1 tbsp of olive/rapeseed oil/coconut oil

Method:

Chop up the onion, garlic, peppers and chillies. If you haven’t used scotch bonnets before, I suggest you wash your hands immediately after use. If you rub your eyes later without doing so, you will suffer and cry!

Lightly sauté all of the veggies and chillies in your tablespoon of oil along with the ground coriander, salt and pepper and scriracha sauce. This step usually takes about 5 minutes but keep stirring as the ingredients cook.

Next, add the chopped tomatoes, pasata OR tomato purée and the can of chickpeas. Allow everything to simmer on a low-medium heat for about 30 minutes and you are done.

In the past, one or two people have asked me about Scriracha Sauce. First of all, yes, it is allowed for Paleo people and…it’s available in any good Asian food store and failing that, you can purchase it online.

We are never without Sciracha in this house, we use it regularly as it adds flavour to so many foods. I particularly love it on omelettes and scrambled eggs.

My top tip:

The flavors in this stew really do pack a punch, so if you find it too hot, just add a dollop of Greek or Natural yogurt. The yogurt adds a nice creamy texture to the stew so…I highly recommend you give it a try.